Terrible accident
Member
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 90
Likes: 0
Apex,
I totally agree! I had an '84 Toyota Celica GT (4 cyl, 130 hp or so, fun car) throughout high school and college, and I am absolutely positive that I would have killed myself (and/or somebody else) if I had anything more powerful (e.g. Z28, Trans Am, etc.). For some dumb reason, I frequently drove that car to the very edge of its limits on the "Pig Trail", a 40 mile or so country road in NW Arkansas between Little Rock and Faytetteville. Honestly, sometimes I simply drove like an absolute idiot (I'm pretty sure I thought I was cool though...what a dork).
I distinctly remember one overcast Friday afternoon being on a wet country road in light rain and taking a tighter-than-expected blind right curve at around 60. Through absolute LUCK (I refuse to believe it was skill), I (or God) somehow did everything right to keep it on the road. The road was slick, the tires were .0001g on the verge of breaking loose into a wet slide, touching the brakes at all would have sent the rear end around and me off the road down a about a 15 foot decline into a solid row of thick trunked trees, and I had to use the entire oncoming lane (including the white line of the road edge) of the blind right-hand curve JUST to keep it on the road. During this 3 seconds of sheer terror, I absolutely KNEW I was going to have a wreck. The only question was how...would I nail another innocent oncoming car head on at 60 mph, start sliding and leave the road flying into the tree trunks, and would I simply be brutally maimed for life or deservingly killed. The car felt totally past its performance limits, yet somehow I came out of the curve on the road and in control.
I was obviously scared sh*tless and immediately got the shakes afterwards. I KNEW I should have had a wreck, but somehow I didn't. Lucky, lucky, dumbarse, lucky. So, I basically decided at that time to act as though the wreck HAD occurred, and what would I have learned from it. I learned that what I thought was fun spirited driving was actually reckless stupidity that through blind luck had not gotten me and/or somebody else injured or killed. That day I drove the rest of the way slowly and safely, feeling like a dead man driving.
If I had been in a more powerful car (e.g. Trans Am) I probably would have been going faster, lost control, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. I know this because I had already spun my brother's '84 Trans Am on a country road with a friend, winding up 6 inches from the trees (I couldn't open my driver's side door) at all.
I'd love for my daughter to have a fast, neat car for high school for her and her friends to be proud of, but I just don't trust the stupidity and naivete of youth to exercise the right judgment. After all, I didn't, and she has probably inherited my teen stupidity.
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Martyr
2001 Silver Lightning
I totally agree! I had an '84 Toyota Celica GT (4 cyl, 130 hp or so, fun car) throughout high school and college, and I am absolutely positive that I would have killed myself (and/or somebody else) if I had anything more powerful (e.g. Z28, Trans Am, etc.). For some dumb reason, I frequently drove that car to the very edge of its limits on the "Pig Trail", a 40 mile or so country road in NW Arkansas between Little Rock and Faytetteville. Honestly, sometimes I simply drove like an absolute idiot (I'm pretty sure I thought I was cool though...what a dork).
I distinctly remember one overcast Friday afternoon being on a wet country road in light rain and taking a tighter-than-expected blind right curve at around 60. Through absolute LUCK (I refuse to believe it was skill), I (or God) somehow did everything right to keep it on the road. The road was slick, the tires were .0001g on the verge of breaking loose into a wet slide, touching the brakes at all would have sent the rear end around and me off the road down a about a 15 foot decline into a solid row of thick trunked trees, and I had to use the entire oncoming lane (including the white line of the road edge) of the blind right-hand curve JUST to keep it on the road. During this 3 seconds of sheer terror, I absolutely KNEW I was going to have a wreck. The only question was how...would I nail another innocent oncoming car head on at 60 mph, start sliding and leave the road flying into the tree trunks, and would I simply be brutally maimed for life or deservingly killed. The car felt totally past its performance limits, yet somehow I came out of the curve on the road and in control.
I was obviously scared sh*tless and immediately got the shakes afterwards. I KNEW I should have had a wreck, but somehow I didn't. Lucky, lucky, dumbarse, lucky. So, I basically decided at that time to act as though the wreck HAD occurred, and what would I have learned from it. I learned that what I thought was fun spirited driving was actually reckless stupidity that through blind luck had not gotten me and/or somebody else injured or killed. That day I drove the rest of the way slowly and safely, feeling like a dead man driving.
If I had been in a more powerful car (e.g. Trans Am) I probably would have been going faster, lost control, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. I know this because I had already spun my brother's '84 Trans Am on a country road with a friend, winding up 6 inches from the trees (I couldn't open my driver's side door) at all.
I'd love for my daughter to have a fast, neat car for high school for her and her friends to be proud of, but I just don't trust the stupidity and naivete of youth to exercise the right judgment. After all, I didn't, and she has probably inherited my teen stupidity.
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Martyr
2001 Silver Lightning